Beijing begins providing all-day heating

Workers ignite a boiler of a residential district in Changping, Beijing. Beijing kicks off its trial heating on Nov 7 and about 50% of its heating units are expected to ignite. [Photo by Fu Ding/Asianewsphoto]

China officially enters the winter season on Thursday. And China's meteorological center has predicted a sharp temperature drop in the coming two days with some regions to see a fall as much as ten degrees Celsius.

The capital, Beijing, began providing 24-hour heating on Thursday. The municipal government says for the first time, heating for more than half of the city's households will be powered by electricity and gas, rather than coal.

The city's heating system will still consume about 4.8 million tons of coal, but that's 500-thousand tons less than last year. Northern China usually receives all-day heating between November and March.

Despite efforts to cut down dependence on coal, concern continues to grow about the heating season's potential effect on air quality. On the first day of heating late last month, northeast China saw record smog. In Heilongjiang province, the concentration of PM 2.5 air pollution particles was over 30 times the average level considered safe by the World Health Organization.